Airplane



E. E. HAHTMAN.

AIRPLANE.

APPLKCATION FILED mac. 24, 1919.

Patented Mar; 15, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l- E. E. HARTMA'N.

AIRPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 24, 1919.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

E. E. HARTMAN.

AIRPLANE.

APPLICATION FILED 050.24, 1919.

1,371,240. Patented Mar. 15, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

W i/1:1 WW1 5mm l/86 6- 5924 14/41? UNITED sures PATENT omen.

ELLES E. EARTH, OF NEW YORK, N. Y, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-THIRD TO ETHEL E. HAB'I'MAN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., AND ONE-THIRD '10 ARTHUR P. CAMPBELL,

OF WICBITA, KANSAS;

AIRPLANE.

Application filed December 24, 1919. Serial No. 347,150.

To all whom z't may concern:

Be it known that I, Ennis E. HARTMAN, a citizen of Hungary, residing at New York city, county and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Airplanes, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to improvements in airplanes, but chiefly to asafety devlce to prevent the plane from falling too rapidly either for landing purposes or in case of accident. To carry out my. invention, I arrange certain of the wings of the plane, preferably the ,bottom wings, so that they can be transformed into channel formation, that is to say, transformed into a wing or wings havin depending supplemental aprons along t e front and rear edges. The object of my invention is to arrange certain of the wings so that air will be pocketed and act as a cushion to prevent an airplane from dropping too rapidly. Under normal conditions, the aprons will be folded against the wing or wings to which they are attached and will not interfere with the function of the wing or wings. In case of accfdent, due to the stopping of the engine (for instance), the aprons will be released and will drop, thereby adapting the wing or wings to pocket air, whereby considerable resistance will be offered to the dropping plane. The aprons may also be used to effect an easy landing.

I will now proceed to describe the invention in detail, the novel features of which I will finally claim, reference being had to 1 the drawings, wherein Figure 1 is a side elevation'of an airplane embodying my improvement;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged cross sectional view of one of the lower planes;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view, the upper plane being omitted, and also the canvas of the lower planes;

Figs. 4 and 5 are detail sectional views, taken on lines 4-4 and 5-5 in Fig. 3;

and

Fig. 6 is a front end elevation, partly in section, the wings being broken. away.

In the accompanying drawings, the fuselage of an airplane is indicated by 7, a top wing by 8 an lower wmgs by 9. As the remainlng elements of an airplane have no bearing upon my invention, they will not be described in detail. As herein arranged, the

bottom wings 9 are made up of the usual wing-member and movable aprons 11 and 12 arranged to lie against the said wing member, as indicatedin Fig. 2, or to be lowered as indicatedby dotted lines in Fig. 1'. In this instance, the aprons 11 and 12 are attached to the rear and front edges, respectively, of the wings 9 by means of hinges 13 and 14, respectively, and are adapted to swing downwardly, as indicated by dotted lines 1n Fig. 1, to form a channel or'pocket,

()zpen at both ends, to pocket or receive air.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented 31 ,1, 15, 1921,

hen a plane drops rapidly, it is of course 1 resisted by the air, but air will be forced from under the wings and will flow in a direction parallel with the wings. The aprons 11 and 12 will prevent air from flowing from under the wings excepting gradually. In other words, air will be pocketed in the channel formed by the wing proper and the depending aprons or supplemental wings 11 and 12. he supplemental wings or aprons W111 be held up against the wings by 'means of a releasable locking device arranged to be manipulated by the aviator or assistant. To

look the supplemental aprons or wings against the wing proper, I employ an oscillating shaft 15 carried by brackets 16* mounted on the main plane 9. The shaft -15-carries hooks 17 to engage a bar 18 carried by one of the aprons, in this instance apron 12. The apron 12 carries a lip 19 to overlap the adjacent edge of apron 11; hence apron 11 will be held up by apron 12, owing to the overlapping-lip 19.

As can be seen in Fig. 3, the shaft 15 extends from the end of one wing 9 to the end of the other wing 9, passing through the fuselage 7. The shaft 15 carries a lever19 adjacent the seat 20 for the aviator, which, when operated in the proper direction, will rotate shaft 15 and cause the hooks 17 to leave rod 18. To cause the supplemental Wings or aprons to drop to the position indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 1, I employ (in this instance) springs 21 connecting arms 22, carried by the aprons cables 24 and 25 will be employed, which are wound upon drums 26 and 27 adjacent the aviators seat. The drums 26 and 27 may be rotated by means of a handle 28. The cables 24 and 25 will be passed over pulleys 29 carried by the upper wing (see Fig. 6), then downwardly through the main wings 9 and connected to their respective aprons or supplemental wings 11 and 12.

It will be apparent that the aprons 11 and 12 can be caused to swing downwardly at the will of the aviator and when allowed to assume such position will act to prevent the airplane from falling too rapidly. After having been allowed to swing down, the aprons can be raised by means of the retatable drums 26 and 27.

Having now described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. An airplane wing, comprising a main portion, and a supplemental apron or wing of approximately equal area hinged to each longitudinal ,edge'thereof, arranged to be folded against the under surface of the main wing.

2. Anairplanc wing, comprising a main portion, a supplemental wing or apron of approximately equal area pivotally connected to each longitudinal edge thereof, and releasable means to normally maintain said aprons in contact with the under surface of the main wing.

3. An airplane wing, comprising a main body frame, a supplemental frame pivotally connected to the main frame and adapted to be opened up at will to provide a channel or pocket under said main frame to receive a volume of air, whereby the plane to which the wing is applied will be sustained against a sudden fall, an oscillatory shaft carried by the mainframe, hooks carried by the said shaft, a bar carried by the supplemental frame to be enga ed by the books on the oscillatory shaft, and a lever carried by the oscillatory shaft whereby said shaft can be operated to release the supplemental fram 4. Inan air plane wing, a main frame, a pair of supplemental frames, each supplemental frame bcing pivot-ally connected along the longitudinal edge to the adjacent longitudinal edge of the main frame, a lip carried by one of said supplemental frames, along the inner longitudinal edge to lie under the adjacent edge of the other supplemental frame, a bar carried by the supplemental frame having the lip, releas able latches carried by the main frame to engage said bar, and means to operate the latches.

Signed at New York city, N. Y., this 22 day of December, 1919.

ELLES E. HARTMAN.

Witnesses:

MAURICE BLooK, EDWARD A. JARVIS. 

